Southridge Tech Middle School staff and students smiled and hoisted “Thank You” signs on Aug. 11 as Walmart employees delivered a truck filled with donations to the school as part of a series of back-to-school giveaway events unfolding across Fontana Unified School District. More than 3,000 Fontana Unified students have started the 2023-24 school year equipped for success with new backpacks – often stuffed with school supplies – thanks to the generosity of eight community organizations that collected the items through in-house, back-to-school drives and donated the items to the District or its students.
Fontana Adult School (FAS) has received the Promising Practices Award from the California Department of Education (CDE) for its efficiency in conducting exit interviews with graduates and alumni. These interviews, which are required for all adult schools that receive funding from the state, ask the students if they have found work, how much money they are earning, and whether they are pursuing higher education. Fontana Adult School reaches out to students directly to conduct the survey, either through emails, phone calls, or text messages. The personal approach has proven successful, making former students feel comfortable and allowing FAS to gather additional information on how to improve the school, which offers a wide range of both free and fee-based courses across various career pathways.
Fontana Unified Board’s Student Rep Takes Oath of Office
Cheered on by her family and loved ones, Summit High School senior Julieta Gutierrez Martin took the oath of office during the Aug. 9 Board meeting, thereby beginning her term as the District’s Board of Education student representative for the 2023-24 school year. Over the next year, Gutierrez Martin will serve as the voice for all Fontana Unified students and provide their insight and perspective to the Board of Education. She is the first student from Summit High to serve in the role, which is filled after a school-blind application and interview process.
Fontana Unified Dance Program Receives $50,000 Grant
A.B. Miller High School dance students will receive an opportunity to expand their creative horizons while learning to choreograph, perform and film new work uniquely designed for a specific location, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Southern California-based nonprofit homeLA, which will be used to fund a master class held at the Maloof Foundation Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. The project, called inSITE, is available to A.B. Miller Dance Level 1 and Conservatory of Dance Level 2 students and will combine dance and film, as students work with professional film and dance artists to develop choreography that is site-specific to Maloof Gardens, working towards producing a live performance and an accompanying video by the end of the semester.
Smiling faces, colorful decorations and lively celebrations were plentiful across Fontana Unified School District’s campuses on Aug. 3, as students eagerly returned for the first day of the 2023-24 school year. Students walked across red carpets and under balloon arches, greeted by staff and peer leaders holding welcoming signs, and enjoyed music from a DJ and themed photo opportunities as they entered campuses. The first day of the 2023-24 school year continues a series of transformations in Fontana Unified that include the appointment of 15 dynamic new leaders, and the unveiling of the District’s highly anticipated Innovation Empire, which aims to educate and empower a new generation of STEM learners to push their creative boundaries and channel their entrepreneurial spirit.
The sky is the limit for Fontana Unified K-12 students looking to push their creative boundaries and channel their entrepreneurial spirit, as the District’s much-anticipated Innovation Empire debuts in the 2023-24 school year, which began Aug. 3. Fueled by the imagination of young scholars, and buoyed by a Makerspace stocked with a fleet of state-of-the-art 3D, laser and ultra-violet printers, high-powered industrial drills, water cutters and CNC mills, the Innovation Empire is poised to be the nucleus for a new generation of STEM learners desiring to be engineers, coders and business owners.
Fontana Unified School District will welcome new administrators at the District and school levels – many of whom are current employees embracing new leadership roles – during the 2023-24 school year, signaling alignment with the priorities Superintendent Miki R. Inbody heard during her Reconnecting Campaign. The introduction of 15 new administrators follows Inbody’s first 100 days as superintendent, during which she met with employees, students, the Board of Education and the community to listen and learn about the needs of students. Inbody then took action, supported by the Board, to ensure the District is staffed with strong leaders in the right positions to best serve Fontana Unified students and guide the upward trajectory of success in the District.
Fontana High School’s (FOHI) Marine Corps JROTC (MCJROTC) Marksmanship team completed its most successful year ever, capturing fourth place at the 2023 CMP National Three-Position Air Rifle Championship, held in June at Camp Perry, Ohio. It is the highest finish ever recorded by the FOHI program, and represents a final triumph for Class of 2023 graduates Ashley Padilla and Yaira Castro, as well as departing FOHI MCJROTC Marine Instructor MSgt. Wayne Harkley, who is retiring after running the program for the last 15 years. Padilla, who walked away with $1,500 in scholarships, finished in fifth place in the Sporter final division – a competition that featured the top eight shooters from an original field of 164 entrants. Padilla will attend Cal State Los Angeles in the fall.
Fontana Unified’s Theater Conservatory returned to the stage for its final production of the school year, welcoming elementary and high school students to join the star-studded cast for the highly anticipated, “Disney’s The Little Mermaid,” held April 21-23 at the historic California Theater in San Bernardino. The company was comprised of Beech Avenue Elementary and A.B Miller High School students alongside professional actors, as well as several new and seasoned Canyon Crest Elementary and Dorothy Grant Innovations Academy student cast members who recently debuted in their professional show, “School of Rock.”
Fontana Unified School District is rolling out the welcome mat for two veteran administrators who have joined the superintendent’s cabinet, bringing decades of experience in business, finance, education and fostering student achievement. Dr. Leslie Barnes, with 28 years of experience in business administration and finances, has been appointed the new Associate Superintendent of Business Services. She is joined on the cabinet by Dr. Jennifer Bourgeois, a proven leader and educator who will serve as the new Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning.
